A charity from Wolverhampton wants to turn the old Carnelian Rover showroom on Stafford Park 1 in Telford into a `charity superstore'. This could be very bad news for charities in Shropshire, and one in particular.
Compton Hospice from Wolverhampton has applied for planning permission to use the building as a `charity superstore', even though they take virtually no patients from Telford and only a few from south and east Shropshire. If they get permission, this will decimate the local charity shops both by taking their trade away and by sucking up the donations they rely on to keep going. So people who shop in charity shops, and the local charities that rely on them for income, will be much worse off.
It's also shocking behaviour towards our own Severn Hospice. Have you seen how well they're getting on with building the desperately-needed new hospice up Apley Castle? Severn Hospice still needs to raise a million quid to finish the work, and then it'll need to raise more money to keep caring for local patients from the Telford and Wrekin area, as well as those they take care of in Shrewsbury and Newton. Hospices have informal agreements not to fund-raise in each other's areas, but Compton's attempt to build a superstore rides roughshod over that, and if it succeeds, it'll deprive Severn Hospice and local patients with life-limiting illnesses of money and care. To give you some idea of what a cuckoo in the nest this is,
all of Severn Hospice's charity shops could fit inside that place on Stafford Park 1, with room to spare!!
Find out more here
http://www.severnhospice.org.uk/htm/compton.htm and read about the brilliant work of Severn Hospice here
http://www.severnhospice.org.uk/And it all looks a bit sus to me, anyway. The last few businesses to have occupied that building haven't been able to keep it going, the rent's £60,000 a year which is a lot for a charity to find (how many second-hand suits will they have to sell to even make the rent, let alone cover their other costs?) ... but once permission for change of use has been granted, then suddenly the property would become much more desirable for another retailer ..... [;)]
The decision on whether Compton will be allowed to open their `charity superstore' will be made in a couple of weeks' time. Protect Severn Hospice and other local charities from this hostile intruder. Read the pages at the links above, make a fuss about this and write to T&W council to oppose Compton Hospice's application!